Research Briefing
Payments from the Social Fund can be made to claimants of means-tested benefits and tax credits to help meet the costs of a funeral. Payments are made from the regulated Social Fund and, as such, are not limited by budgetary constraints. 27,000 payments were made in Great Britain in 2016-17, at a total cost of £38.6 million. The average award in 2016-17 was £1,427.
Research Briefing
Sanction rates are higher under Universal Credit, the Government's flagship welfare reform, than under the benefits it is replacing. In December 2017 around 0.3% of JSA claimants were currently under a sanction compared to 8.2% of Universal Credit claimants required to search for work though, in the case of UC, this rate has since fallen to 5.3% as of May. This higher rate of sanctioning, the DWP argues and our new analysis corroborates, is due to the way DWP deals with claimants who miss a work-search interview without good reason under Universal Credit compared to under JSA (one of UC's predecessors). Despite this analysis, however, there are still a number of questions relating to sanctions under Universal Credit that we cannot yet answer.
Insight
Sanctions applied to claimants of Universal Credit appear to be several times higher than the ‘legacy’ benefits it is replacing.
Research Briefing
What do we still not know about the Brexit process or the withdrawal agreement with the EU that is currently being negotiated? This paper looks at some of the main unknowns.
Debate Pack
This House of Commons Library landing page has been prepared in advance of a debate entitled "Funeral Poverty". It will be led by Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck MP and will take place in Westminster Hall on Tuesday 11th September 2018, starting at 2.30pm.
Research Briefing
This briefing paper explains the Government's proposals for the future funding of supported housing. On 9 August 2018 it was announced that Housing Benefit will continue to meet residents' rent payments in all supported housing. The paper also covers the requirement on providers to reduce rents up to 2019/20.
Debate Pack
On 11 July 2018, there will be an Opposition Day debate on Universal Credit in the Commons Chamber.
Research Briefing
Universal Credit roll-out was around 11% complete across Great Britain as of December 2017, in terms of the number of households on UC. However, progress varies considerably between constituencies. Almost half of jobseekers are now on UC rather than "legacy" benefits. The majority of households receiving support for rent, children or incapacity are yet to move onto UC. This briefing provides a guide to roll-out of the Full Service in 2018/19 and original HC Library estimates for the progress or UC roll-out by constituency, region and across Great Britain.
Research Briefing
Universal Credit (UC) is the Government’s new working-age benefit. The Government is currently rolling out the UC full service, the service all areas will eventually use, across Great Britain. Our UC roll out tool shows when the UC full service launched, or is scheduled to launch, at jobcentres in and around your constituency.
Debate Pack
On 15 May 2018, there will be a General Debate on Housing and Homes. The Library has published numerous briefing papers on housing issues and a selection of relevant papers is provided below.
Research Briefing
This introductory guide provides sources of statistics on constituency level statistics.
Research Briefing
This Library Briefing Paper provides information on the Cold Weather Payments Scheme for winter 2017-18.
Research Briefing
Brexit negotiations have resumed and this third phase will cover issues outstanding from the last phases - the Irish border in particular - and the framework for future EU-UK relations. This paper looks at how the EU and the UK envisage their relationship after Brexit.
Research Briefing
On 19 January 2018 the Government announced that it accepted a High Court ruling that controversial changes made in March 2017 to the criteria for the PIP mobility component for people experiencing psychological distress were unlawful. This briefing gives background information to the changes that have now been overturned. It will be updated in due course to take account of subsequent developments. In the meantime, this page gives information on what the latest announcement means for PIP claimants.
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